


When Will My Marks Come?

by PsychoLynx



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Fatherhood, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Pre-Avatar: Legend of Korra, Zuko's Scar (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23996251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoLynx/pseuds/PsychoLynx
Summary: Izumi was always cruious, always asking her father questions. Zuko tried to always have answers, but some questions are more difficult than others.
Relationships: Izumi & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 444





	When Will My Marks Come?

The barely five-year old Izumi poked the squirming little lump in Aunt Katara’s arms.

“Is it a girl?” 

Katara laughed and shook her head “Tenzin’s a boy.”

She stared at the baby.

“Is he a waterbender like Kya?”

“Actually,”—Izumi turned to find Uncle Aang approaching and kneeling down next to his wife so that he could be on Izumi’s level— “Tenzin is an airbender,”—he pet his son’s head— “Just you wait. Soon he'll be flying around, running on air scooters, getting his arrows.”

“Aang!” Katara bit “He’s not getting any arrows for a decade, at least.”

Aang put his hands up and smiled awkwardly.

“Right now, he just needs a nap,” she handed Tenzin off to his father. Taking the hint, Aang walked Tenzin to the nursery.

Izumi knew it was an innocent interaction, but something about it stuck with her.

* * *

The ride back to their stead in Republic City in the royal carriage was business as usual. Izumi played with her dolls on the floor while her father absently read messages for him (working in the between moments was the only way he could ever slip away for long enough to see his old friends). 

“Daddy?”

Zuko looked up from his business to his daughter. He always liked to give her his undivided attention. She must have picked up the habit as she noticed she was no longer playing with her dolls.

“What is it?”

“When are my marks going to come in?”

Zuko mulled over what his daughter said in his head “What do you mean your marks?”

“I heard Uncle Aang talk about how his son would have arrows like his when he gets older. So I'm wondering when will my marks come?”

“Don’t worry, Zumi,”—he went back to reading the document— “That’s only for air benders.”

“I know that,” Izumi said as she wiggled her face between the paper and her dad like a cat seeking attention “But when am _I_ going to get _my_ mark?”

Zuko put the paper aside “Mom and I don’t have any tattoos.”

Izumi blinked and pointed at her father’s eye.

“Then what’s that?”

Zuko’s mouth parted, completely taken aback. It was easy to forget about the scar these days. He rarely looked in the mirror, and, when he did, he was looking at the same face he had been seeing for over a decade.

“I know it’s not face paint like Suki because you don’t take it off at night.”

Zuko swallowed. In his head, he knew that she would learn about or ask about how he had gotten the scar eventually. He planned on sitting her down and explaining it to her calmly.

But asking when she would get hers?

“Well,” Zuko felt sweat start to form on his hands. “What I have on my face is actually a scar.”

“What’s a scar?”

“Sometimes, when you get hurt, it doesn’t heal right and leaves a mark.”

Izumi reached out and touched the burned area curiously “How’d you get hurt?”

Zuko blinked. He had planned for so many questions: Where do babies come from? Why don’t I have a grandpa like Kya? Why can’t I bend all the elements like Uncle Aang? 

He lifted her up onto his lap and stared into her wide gold eyes. 

Why couldn’t he just answer?

“When I was young, my father burned me?” he said as flatly as he could.

Izumi waited for followup and, when none came, continued her interrogation.

“Was it an accident?” she asked. 

Zuko tensed. She was young, too young to know about the Agni Kai tradition that he was working so hard to eliminate “No, I—“ he stopped himself “He made a mistake.”

The carriage rolled to a stop. Izumi hopped off her dad’s lap to pick up her dolls. Promptly, the door was opened by the driver and Zuko stepped out. He turned back to find his little girl with her arms up to her father, doll in each hand, signaling him to lift her up and out. Zuko heaved his daughter up so that she rested on his hip, letting her arms wrap around his shoulders. Izumi kissed her dad on the cheek where his scar started, then his brow, then his ear. 

“What are you doing?” Zuko said with a grin. 

“Kissing it better.” Zuko kissed his little girl on the forehead and pulled her close. His daughter would grow up at her own pace. Never banished. Never burned. Never brought to the brink as she loses her face with her innocence. 

She would get love, and Zuko was honored to have the chance to give it to her

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! I was inspired by a Tumblr post where a kid whose parents had a lot of tattoos asked "when the pictures would come in." I thought I could make something sweet out of it. Thanks for reading!


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